constituted authorities of the citizens of our country in relation to
the lines which separate their respective jurisdictions, the results can
be of no vital injury to our institutions if that ardent patriotism,
that devoted attachment to liberty, that spirit of moderation and
forbearance for which our countrymen were once distinguished, continue
to be cherished. If this continues to be the ruling passion of our
souls, the weaker feeling of the mistaken enthusiast will be corrected,
the Utopian dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and the
complicated intrigues of the demagogue rendered harmless. The spirit of
liberty is the sovereign balm for every injury which our institutions
may receive. On the contrary, no care that can be used in the
construction of our Government, no division of powers, no distribution
of checks in its several departments, will prove effectual to keep us a
free people if this spirit is suffered to decay; and decay it will
without constant nurture. To the neglect of this duty the best
historians agree in attributing the ruin of all the republics with whose
existence and fall their writings have made us acquainted. The same
causes will ever produce the same effects, and as long as the love of
power is a dominant passion of the human bosom, and as long as the
understandings of men can be warped and their affections changed by
operations upon their passions and prejudices, so long will the
liberties of a people depend on their own constant attention to its
preservation. The danger to all well-established free governments arises
from the unwillingness of the people to believe in its existence or from
the influence of designing men diverting their attention from the
quarter whence it approaches to a source from which it can never come.
This is the old trick of those who would usurp the government of their
country. In the name of democracy they speak, warning the people against
the influence of wealth and the danger of aristocracy. History, ancient
and modern, is full of such examples. Caesar became the master of the
Roman people and the senate under the pretense of supporting the
democratic claims of the former against the aristocracy of the latter;
Cromwell, in the character of protector of the liberties of the people,
became the dictator of England, and Bolivar possessed himself of
unlimited power with the title of his country's liberator. There is, on
the contrary, no instance on record of an extensive and well-established
republic being changed into an aristocracy. The tendencies of all such
governments in their decline is to monarchy, and the antagonist
principle to liberty there is the spirit of faction--a spirit which
assumes the character and in times of great excitement imposes itself
upon the people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and, like the false
Christs whose coming was foretold by the Savior, seeks to, and were it
possible would, impose upon the true and most faithful disciples of
liberty. It is in periods like this that it behooves the people to be
most watchful of those to whom they have intrusted power. And although
there is at times much difficulty in distinguishing the false from the
true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation will detect the
counterfeit, as well by the character of its operations as the results
that are produced. The true spirit of liberty, although devoted,
persevering, bold, and uncompromising in principle, that secured is mild
and tolerant and scrupulous as to the means it employs, whilst the
spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive,
and intolerant, and totally reckless as to the character of the allies
which it brings to the aid of its cause. When the genuine spirit of
liberty animates the body of a people to a thorough examination of their
affairs, it leads to the excision of every excrescence which may have
fastened itself upon any of the departments of the government, and
restores the system to its pristine health and beauty. But the reign of
an intolerant spirit of party amongst a free people seldom fails to
result in a dangerous accession to the executive power introduced and
established amidst unusual professions of devotion to democracy.
The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively to matters connected
with our domestic concerns. It may be proper, however, that I should
give some indications to my fellow-citizens of my proposed course of
conduct in the management of our foreign relations. I assure them,
therefore, that it is my intention to use every means in my power to
preserve the friendly intercourse which now so happily subsists with
every foreign nation, and that although, of course, not well informed as
to the state of pending negotiations with any of them, I see in the
personal characters of the sovereigns, as well as in the mutual
interests of our own and of the governments with which our relations are
most intimate, a pleasing guaranty that the harmony so important to the
interests of their subjects as well as of our citizens will not be
interrupted by the advancement of any claim or pretension upon their
part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. Long the defender
of my country's rights in the field, I trust that my fellow-citizens
will not see in my earnest desire to preserve peace with foreign powers
any indication that their rights will ever be sacrificed or the honor of
the nation tarnished by any admission on the part of their Chief
Magistrate unworthy of their former glory. In our intercourse with our
aboriginal neighbors the same liberality and justice which marked the
course prescribed to me by two of my illustrious predecessors when
acting under their direction in the discharge of the duties of
superintendent and commissioner shall be strictly observed. I can
conceive of no more sublime spectacle, none more likely to propitiate an
impartial and common Creator, than a rigid adherence to the principles
of justice on the part of a powerful nation in its transactions with a
weaker and uncivilized people whom circumstances have placed at its
disposal.
Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say something to you on the
subject of the parties at this time existing in our country. To me it
appears perfectly clear that the interest of that country requires that
the violence of the spirit by which those parties are at this time
governed must be greatly mitigated, if not entirely extinguished, or
consequences will ensue which are appalling to be thought of.
If parties in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of vigilance
sufficient to keep the public functionaries within the bounds of law and
duty, at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that they become
destructive of public virtue, the parent of a spirit antagonist to that
of liberty, and eventually its inevitable conqueror. We have examples of
republics where the love of country and of liberty at one time were the
dominant passions of the whole mass of citizens, and yet, with the
continuance of the name and forms of free government, not a vestige of
these qualities remaining in the bosoms of any one of its citizens. It
was the beautiful remark of a distinguished English writer that "in the
Roman senate Octavius had a party and Antony a party, but the
Commonwealth had none." Yet the senate continued to meet in the temple
of liberty to talk of the sacredness and beauty of the Commonwealth and
gaze at the statues of the elder Brutus and of the Curtii and Decii, and
the people assembled in the forum, not, as in the days of Camillus and
the Scipios, to cast their free votes for annual magistrates or pass
upon the acts of the senate, but to receive from the hands of the
leaders of the respective parties their share of the spoils and to shout
for one or the other, as those collected in Gaul or Egypt and the lesser
Asia would furnish the larger dividend. The spirit of liberty had fled,
and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought protection in the
wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; and so under the operation of the same
causes and influences it will fly from our Capitol and our forums. A
calamity so awful, not only to our country, but to the world, must be
deprecated by every patriot and every tendency to a state of things
likely to produce it immediately checked. Such a tendency has
existed--does exist. Always the friend of my countrymen, never their
flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to them from this high place to
which their partiality has exalted me that there exists in the land a
spirit hostile to their best interests--hostile to liberty itself. It is
a spirit contracted in its views, selfish in its objects. It looks to
the aggrandizement of a few even to the destruction of the interests of
the whole. The entire remedy is with the people. Something, however, may
be effected by the means which they have placed in my hands. It is union
that we want, not of a party for the sake of that party, but a union of
the whole country for the sake of the whole country, for the defense of
its interests and its honor against foreign aggression, for the defense
of those principles for which our ancestors so gloriously contended. As
far as it depends upon me it shall be accomplished. All the influence
that I possess shall be exerted to prevent the formation at least of an
Executive party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the
support of no member of that body to any measure of mine that does not
satisfy his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds
his appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people but that
asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to the legal
administration of their affairs."
I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify
me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the
Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals,
religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are
essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that
good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious
freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers and
has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence
those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every
interest of our beloved country in all future time.
Fellow-citizens, being fully invested with that high office to which the
partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an affectionate
leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the remembrance of
the pledge I have this day given to discharge all the high duties of my
exalted station according to the best of my ability, and I shall enter
upon their performance with entire confidence in the support of a just
and generous people.
MARCH 4, 1841.
SPECIAL MESSAGE.
March 5, 1841.
_To the Senate of the United States_:
I hereby withdraw all nominations made to the Senate on or before the 3d
instant and which were not definitely acted on at the close of its
session on that day.
W.H. HARRISON.
PROCLAMATION.
[From Statutes at Large (Little, Brown & Co.), Vol. XI, p. 786.]
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
A PROCLAMATION.
Whereas sundry important and weighty matters, principally growing out of
the condition of the revenue and finances of the country, appear to me
to call for the consideration of Congress at an earlier day, than its
next annual session, and thus form an extraordinary occasion, such as
renders necessary, in my judgment, the convention of the two Houses as
soon as may be practicable:
I do therefore by this my proclamation convene the two Houses of
Congress to meet in the Capitol, at the city of Washington, on the last
Monday, being the 31st day, of May next; and I require the respective
Senators and Representatives then and there to assemble, in order to
receive such information respecting the state of the Union as may be
given to them and to devise and adopt such measures as the good of the
country may seem to them, in the exercise of their wisdom and
discretion, to require.
In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be
hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand.
[SEAL.]
Done at the city of Washington, the 17th day of March, A.D. 1841, and of
the Independence of the United States the sixty-fifth.
W.H. HARRISON
By the President:
DANIEL WEBSTER,
_Secretary of State_.
DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON.
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT.
[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 5, 1841.]
WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1841_.
An all-wise Providence having suddenly removed from this life William
Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, we have thought it
our duty, in the recess of Congress and in the absence of the
Vice-President from the seat of Government, to make this afflicting
bereavement known to the country by this declaration under our hands.
He died at the President's house, in this city, this 4th day of April,
A.D. 1841, at thirty minutes before 1 o'clock in the morning.
The people of the United States, overwhelmed, like ourselves, by an
event so unexpected and so melancholy, will derive consolation from
knowing that his death was calm and resigned, as his life has been
patriotic, useful, and distinguished, and that the last utterance of his
lips expressed a fervent desire for the perpetuity of the Constitution
and the preservation of its true principles. In death, as in life, the
happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts.
DANIEL WEBSTER,
_Secretary of State_.
THOMAS EWING,
_Secretary of the Treasury_.
JOHN BELL,
_Secretary of War_.
J.J. CRITTENDEN,
_Attorney-General_.
FRANCIS GRANGER,
_Postmaster-General_.
[The Secretary of the Navy was absent from the city.]
ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT.
[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 5, 1841.]
WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1841_.
JOHN TYLER,
_Vice-President of the United States_.
Sir: It has become our most painful duty to inform you that William
Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, has departed this
life.
This distressing event took place this day at the President's mansion,
in this city, at thirty minutes before 1 in the morning.
We lose no time in dispatching the chief clerk in the State Department
as a special messenger to bear you these melancholy tidings.
We have the honor to be, with the highest regard, your obedient
servants,
DANIEL WEBSTER,
_Secretary of State_.
THOMAS EWING,
_Secretary of the Treasury_.
JOHN BELL,
_Secretary of War_.
JOHN J. CRITTENDEN,
_Attorney-General_.
FRANCIS GRANGER,
_Postmaster-General_.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES ABROAD.
[From official records in the State Department.]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
_Washington, April 4, 1841_.
Sir: It has become my most painful duty to announce to you the decease
of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States.
This afflicting event took place this day at the Executive Mansion, in
this city, at thirty minutes before 1 o'clock in the morning.
I am, sir, your obedient servant,
DANL. WEBSTER.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS IN THE UNITED
STATES.
[From official records in the State Department.]
DEPARTMENT OF STATE,
_Washington, April 5, 1841_.
Sir: It is my great misfortune to be obliged to inform you of an event
not less afflicting to the people of the United States than distressing
to my own feelings and the feelings of all those connected with the
Government.
The President departed this life yesterday at thirty minutes before
1 o'clock in the morning.
You are respectfully invited to attend the funeral ceremonies, which
will take place on Wednesday next, and with the particular arrangements
for which you will be made acquainted in due time.
Not doubting your sympathy and condolence with the Government and people
of the country on this bereavement, I have the honor to be, sir, with
high consideration, your obedient servant,
DANL. WEBSTER.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE ARMY.
[From official records in the War Department.]
DEPARTMENT OF WAR,
_Washington April 5, 1841_.
It is with feelings of the deepest sorrow that the Secretary of War
announces to the Army the death of the President of the United States.
William Henry Harrison is no more. His long and faithful services in
many subordinate but important stations, his recent elevation to the
highest in honor and power, and the brief term allotted to him in the
enjoyment of it are circumstances of themselves which must awaken the
liveliest sympathy in every bosom. But these are personal
considerations; the dispensation is heaviest and most afflicting on
public grounds. This great calamity has befallen the country at a period
of general anxiety for its present, and some apprehension for its
future, condition--at a time when it is most desirable that all its high
offices should be filled and all its high trusts administered in
harmony, wisdom, and vigor. The generosity of character of the deceased,
the conspicuous honesty of his principles and purposes, together with
the skill and firmness with which he maintained them in all situations,
had won for him the affection and confidence of his countrymen; but at
the moment when by their voice he was raised to a station in the
discharge of the powers and duties of which the most beneficent results
might justly have been anticipated from his great experience, his sound
judgment, the high estimation in which he was held by the people, and
his unquestioned devotion to the Constitution and to the Union, it has
pleased an all-wise but mysterious Providence to remove him suddenly
from that and every other earthly employment.
While the officers and soldiers of the Army share in the general grief
which these considerations so naturally and irresistibly inspire, they
will doubtless be penetrated with increased sensibility and feel a
deeper concern in testifying in the manner appropriate to them the full
measure of a nation's gratitude for the eminent services of the departed
patriot and in rendering just and adequate honors to his memory because
he was himself a soldier, and an approved one, receiving his earliest
lessons in a camp, and, when in riper years called to the command of
armies, illustrating the profession of arms by his personal qualities
and contributing largely by his successes to the stock of his country's
glory.
It is to be regretted that the suddenness of the emergency has made it
necessary to announce this sad event in the absence of the
Vice-President from the seat of Government; but the greatest confidence
is felt that he will cordially approve the sentiments expressed, and
that he will in due time give directions for such further marks of
respect not prescribed by the existing regulations of the Army as may be
demanded by the occasion.
JOHN BELL, _Secretary of War_.
GENERAL ORDERS, No. 20.
HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY,
ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE,
_Washington, April 7, 1841_.
The death of the President of the United States having been officially
announced from the War Department, the Major-General Commanding in Chief
communicates to the Army the melancholy intelligence with feelings of
the most profound sorrow. The long, arduous, and faithful military
services in which President Harrison has been engaged since the first
settlement of the Western country, from the rank of a subaltern to that
of a commander in chief, are too well known to require a recital of them
here. It is sufficient to point to the fields of Tippecanoe, the banks
of the Miami, and the Thames, in Upper Canada, to recall to many of the
soldiers of the present Army the glorious results of some of his
achievements against the foes of his country, both savage and civilized.
The Army has on former occasions been called upon to mourn the loss of
distinguished patriots who have occupied the Presidential chair, but
this is the first time since the adoption of the Constitution it has to
lament the demise of a President while in the actual exercise of the
high functions of the Chief Magistracy of the Union.
The members of the Army, in common with their fellow-citizens of all
classes, deeply deplore this national bereavement; but although they
have lost a friend ever ready to protect their interests, his bright
example in the paths of honor and glory still remains for their
emulation.
The funeral honors directed to be paid by the troops in paragraph 523 of
the General Regulations will be duly observed, and the troops at the
several stations will be paraded at 10 o'clock a.m., when this order
will be read, after which all labors for the day will cease; the
national flag will be displayed at half-staff; at dawn of day thirteen
guns will be fired, besides the half-hour guns as directed by the
Regulations, and at the close of the day a national salute. The
standards, guidons, and colors of the several regiments will be put in
mourning for the period of six months, and the officers will wear the
usual badge of mourning on the left arm above the elbow and on the hilt
of the sword for the same period.
By order of Alexander Macomb, Major-General Commanding in Chief:
R. JONES, _Adjutant-General_.
ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE NAVY.
[From official records in the Navy Department.]
GENERAL ORDER.
NAVY DEPARTMENT, _April 5, 1841_.
The Department announces to the officers of the Navy and Marine Corps
the death of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United
States, which occurred at the Executive Mansion, in the city of
Washington, on the morning of the 4th instant, and directs that, uniting
with their fellow-citizens in the manifestations of their respect for
the exalted character and eminent public services of the illustrious
deceased, and of their sense of the bereavement the country has
sustained by this afflicting dispensation of Providence, they wear the
usual badge of mourning for six months.
The Department further directs that funeral honors be paid him at each
of the navy-yards and on board each of the public vessels in commission
by firing twenty-six minute guns, commencing at 12 o'clock m., on the
day after the receipt of this order, and by wearing their flags at
half-mast for one week.
J.D. SIMMS
_Acting Secretary of the Navy_.
OFFICIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FUNERAL.
[From official records in the State Department.]
WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1841_.
The circumstances in which we are placed by the death of the President
render it indispensable for us, in the recess of Congress and in the
absence of the Vice-President, to make arrangements for the funeral
solemnities. Having consulted with the family and personal friends of
the deceased, we have concluded that the funeral be solemnized on
Wednesday, the 7th instant, at 12 o'clock. The religious services to be
performed according to the usage of the Episcopal Church, in which
church the deceased most usually worshiped. The body to be taken from
the President's house to the Congress Burying Ground, accompanied by a
military and a civic procession, and deposited in the receiving tomb.
The military arrangements to be under the direction of Major-General
Macomb, the General Commanding in Chief the Army of the United States,
and Major-General Walter Jones, of the militia of the District of
Columbia.
Commodore Morris, the senior captain in the Navy now in the city, to
have the direction of the naval arrangements.
The marshal of the District to have the direction of the civic
procession, assisted by the mayors of Washington, Georgetown, and
Alexandria, the clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, and
such other citizens as they may see fit to call to their aid.
John Quincy Adams, ex-President of the United States, members of
Congress now in the city or its neighborhood, all the members of the
diplomatic body resident in Washington, and all officers of Government
and citizens generally are invited to attend.
And it is respectfully recommended to the officers of Government that
they wear the usual badge of mourning.
DANL. WEBSTER,
_Secretary of State_.
T. EWING,
_Secretary of the Treasury_.
JNO. BELL,
_Secretary of War_.
J.J. CRITTENDEN,
_Attorney-General_.
FR. GRANGER,
_Postmaster-General_.
[The Secretary of the Navy was absent from the city.]
[From official records in the War Department.]
DISTRICT ORDERS.
WASHINGTON, _April 5, 1841_.